Interactive Advertising

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying an interactive advertisement for presentation to a user of a computer, comprising: displaying an invitation with a processor of the computer on a display of the computer, the invitation including a first set of media assets from a plurality of media assets and a first set of engagement elements from a plurality of engagement elements that encourage the user to interact with the invitation; determining with the processor whether the user has performed a first interaction with the invitation; displaying an engagement warning with the processor in response to the first interaction with the invitation, the engagement warning indicating that an action by the user within a period of time will prevent deployment of an expanded message including a second set of media assets from the plurality of media assets and a second set of engagement elements from the plurality of engagement elements that encourage the user to interact with the expanded message; closing the engagement warning with the processor and not displaying the expanded message if the user performs the action within the period of time; replacing the invitation with the processor with the expanded message if the user does not perform the action within the period of time; and collecting with the processor engagement information generated as a result of interaction by the user with the interactive advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets include a widget.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets include a micro-site.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets includes a plurality of different advertisements presented to the user in a slideshow format.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets includes a plurality of different advertisements presented to the user at one time.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of media assets includes a plurality of different advertisements that are to be separately presented to the user, and wherein the first set of engagement elements includes a next advertisement tool that enables the user to move through the plurality of different advertisements.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the engagement elements include a share tool that enables the user to send the interactive advertisement to a different computer.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the share tool formats the interactive advertisement so the interactive advertisement will operate properly on the different computer.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of engagement elements include a plurality of widgets that can be navigated by the user to access the plurality of the media assets.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of engagement elements include a share tool that enables the user to send one or more of the media assets or one or more of the engagement elements to a different computer.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of media assets include a widget and the share tool formats the widget to be embedded in the different computer.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of media assets include a widget and the share tool formats the widget as an attachment to an email message.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of media assets include a widget and the share tool embeds the widget into an email message.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of engagement elements and the plurality of media assets can be removed from the interactive advertisement by the user and used in a different location on the computer or on a different computer.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets include one or more localized media assets, wherein the plurality of engagement elements include a localization tool that detects an IP address used by the computer, traces the IP address to a zip code, further comprising the step of selecting localized media assets corresponding to the zip code to include in the invitation and the expanded message.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets include one or more dynamic media assets, further comprising the step of selecting the one or more dynamic media assets by selecting a dynamic content source to provide the one or more dynamic media assets.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the dynamic content source is a Really Simple Syndication feed.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the dynamic content source is a live video feed.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the dynamic content source is a blog.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the dynamic content source is a software application.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of media assets include one or more dynamic media assets, wherein the dynamic media assets include one or more localized media assets, wherein the plurality of engagement elements include a localization tool that detects an IP address used by the computer, traces the IP address to a zip code, further comprising the step of selecting localized media assets that correspond to the zip code from a dynamic content source.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of collecting engagement information includes the steps of: measuring one or more activities by the user with the interactive advertisement; and compensating a publisher based on the one or more activities.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the step of compensating the publisher includes the step of generating a different level of compensation for the publisher based on whether the one or more activities are associated with the invitation, the expanded message or the engagement warning.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the step of compensating the publisher includes the step of generating a different level of compensation for the publisher based on an amount of time spent by the user interacting with the interactive advertisement.